Winter has arrived with a vengeance this week; last night it got down to -6°F (-21°C) to go along with a couple of inches of snow. Good thing I got the flannel sheets out at the beginning of November when it was 75°F. ; -) Looking out the windows at the white is revving up my Christmas motor to get moving on projects that need to be done, soon. This will be the last regular post of the year as next week is the start of Christmas in Second Hand Roses land.

We really, really try not to take pictures of shells:

When they are as weird as this one, it’s a losing battle. What about SUVs says the Philippines to anyone–even SUVs made of shells? We know why this is at the thrift store, but why did anyone drag it home from Philippines? No, thank you!

I think this next bag deserves a big “No, thank you”, too:

Remember those squishy plastic flowers that your grandma used to put in that ugly vase? They fooled no one then and now they’re just sad. With all the nice silk flowers around, why haven’t these guys gotten a nice burial in the local landfill? Unless, they’re out to tempt someone into making the greatest white elephant gift ever—wish I had a frenemy to give this to.

Occasionally, this is what life looks like to us:

Just nod your head if you feel this way time to time—you know you do.

We have been spending all of our shopping time in the back room at Goodwill. We do mighty battle with wires, yarn, and coat hangers all tangled up in four feet of stuff to make our way through a bin. This is what we pulled out last week :

I want to know how long this has been sitting in someone’s closet waiting to be finished. My guess is probably since the ’70s. They got sooo close, and then just threw in the towel; very mysterious.

I call the rummaging through the bins at Goodwill “treasure hunting”:

To be honest, it’s more trash than treasure. What the heck is this foam thingy all decorated with beads? Our best guess was a pin cushion, but with all those beads on it, there is a distinct lack of room for pins. I really would like to know why they didn’t cover up the yellow foam with fabric before starting the beading—it might have looked like a purse then, for whatever good that would do.

Lots more homemade fails:

Maybe this is the current state of needlework samplers where girls and boys show off their stitching mastery on one piece. If so, needlework is a dying art. Putting on our deerstalkers, it’s obvious that they used this in the kitchen or dining room; there are plenty of stains on the front. The mystery is for what; it’s too small for a place mat, and too thin for a hot pad.

Kathy unwrapped this unhappy fish:

He wasn’t chipped in all the mayhem, but that is about the poutiest mouth I’ve ever seen. We found out why he was unhappy later, and then had to go digging through the nearby boxes to reunite these two:

I don’t know what you would do with this lidded bowl besides using it for single servings of bouillabaisse, but he looks much better with his dorsal fin.

This might be a good time to explain the popular method of digging through these four-foot tall boxes. You find a box that has no one digging in the neighboring box and proceed to put all the big junky stuff from your box into the next box. If someone shows up at the next box, then stuff is moved down to the next box. It’s amazing how fast things can move. Kathy found a metal stand with baskets as drawers, but it was missing a drawer. We found the missing drawer waay down the line of boxes; our fellow diggers are wonderfully cooperative with helping each other look for things, thank goodness. If you yell out that you are looking for something, people will look for you in their bin. It takes a village to find the mate for a pair of shoes.

Like shells, we try NOT to take pictures of crocheted throws:

This find was just too hideous to ignore. It would have been mostly benign without those furry, multi-colored patches. That yellow one is particularly hideous. What were they thinking?

I’m guessing this must have belonged to a showgirl:

It certainly isn’t something you could wear under your little black dress unless you wanted to look lumpy and be attacked by every cat in the neighborhood. If you were wearing it for fun-in-the-bedroom, you had better hope you don’t start a sneeze attack when the action moves south.

We found these last two things because we cannot leave a box unopened:

This was the nice heavy satin bow tie and cummerbund that you don’t really see any more. It was still all nice in its box. By the way, don’t you love to say cummerbund? It makes me think of Cumberbatch, and we could listen to him read the phone book.

Some boxes are better not opened:

This cassette case is straight out of the 1980s, gag me with a spoon. I don’t even own a tape player any more, although I do have a turntable. At least the tape wasn’t pulled off the spools and tangled all over the contents of the case, but that’s the best I can say for this.

Thanks for reading and tune in for our Christmas finds that took us all year to round up. Have a great weekend and remember there’s only 17 days until the madness is over!